Exploring a Natural Area

It’s been awhile since I’ve gone to my spot. There were a couple surprises on today’s visit. I was wandering a couple of tracks on the left near the fallen hemlock. I encountered a group of spherical scat. I remembered first thinking it was a porcupine but it looked similar to a deer, although I didn’t see any deer tracks. I had followed the path of an animal that had walked along the brook bank. I had followed the tracks to until it stopped under a log. I had seen a squirrel jumping around and had later seen its tracks. I see its tracks led to a tree it had climbed. There were multiple snow mysteries I’m still trying to make sense of. I had also seen another group of the same kind of scat.

1. Sugar maple
2. Red maple

There weren’t many I found due to a lot of the trees being tall and the buds being out of reach. You will find the pictures of the buds on my Burlington pictures and videos page.

The snowy pictures showed a range of shades of blue as the sun bathed its light and shadow on the powder.

There was a lot of snow cover today. It was difficult to distinguish the land from water. I noticed fresh tracks scattered on the snow. It was still challenging to identify the tracks. I used the ruler on the back of my book to measure the straddle. I had noticed first an animal had galloping tracks. I presumed it was a squirrel, most likely gray, it had larger prints. The squirrel may have went to get its nuts. I then noticed an animal that had gone in a diagonal pattern. I think it was a fox trying to hunt. I noticed small scat sprinkled and holes in the snow. The holes could have been mice, vole, or other small animals moving in and out of the snow. The fox may have been looking to find food. It was circling around the fallen hemlock along the frozen covered waters. Away from the waters I found what could have been rabbit tracks. I also found deer tracks. They were moving but I couldn’t track where they were going. A lot of tracks faded. I heard loud bird noises and I plan on identifying the birds soon.

I have a new page that will focus on winter tracking. It will have a gallery of pictures of tracks and scat that I have found. I’m in the process of identifying the tracks and later the scat. It will have labels once I identify the animals.

Hey there Catamount. Don’t act like you haven’t been here. I see your tracks!

It has been a nice long winter break and now I’m back for the second semester! My spot has changed drastically over the course of the bitter cold December and January! Snow has blanketed the ground. As I walked around my spot I could hear the crunch of the snow. I looked down at the ground and saw specks of scat sprinkled in the powder. I also noticed small footprints. It’s amazing how many footprints are imprinted in the snow! I found it difficult to identify the animals because there were footprints overlapping one another. Also I didn’t have a ruler. I know to bring for my next visit. Trying to single out one trail to track is like trying to look at a subway map in NYC if you don’t live there. It can be overwhelming. Also often parts of the footprint didn’t show clearly in the snow so it was difficult to see what animal it could be. I spent my time meandering in the snow, trying to focus on observing the footprints. Pines lay on the snow. Multiple branches had fallen so I could find buds to identify. The stream was completely frozen. Something unusual I heard was a sound that was like a swingset creaking that kept repeating. I wonder what that sound was. On my way back I heard multiple kinds of unusual sounds. I heard something that sounded like a door creaking. The noise from different areas seemed to respond to one another. I could also hear the gust of the wind blowing through the pines.

A possible project could be doing tests on Centennial Brook. Doing tests on water quality of streams helps to understand if there’s an issue concerning stormwater or erosion. Burlington is a city with impervious surfaces. Impervious surfaces don’t allow for absorption of rainwater into the ground. That stormwater would then carry pollutants into water sources like streams. This brook does have a fast flow and doesn’t appear to be clear, so it would be worth investigating the water quality. It’s important that a stream ecosystem can support life.